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Abdullah al-Misri

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Abdullah al-Misri (b. late 18th century – d. early 19th century) was an Arab-Malay writer. He witnessed first hand the consequences of the Dutch East India Company going bankrupt in 1799; broad changes occurred such as when its possessions were taken over by the Dutch Crown, resulting in massive political change. The Dutch enterprise in Indonesia changed from a mercantile enterprise into a colonial state.[1]

Background

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Born in Palembang, Sumatra, his family were originally from Kedah. His ancestors were from Ottoman-ruled Egypt which meant he was dissimilar to most creoles who were of Hadrami descent. According to the Tuhfat al-Nafis, he was close to the creole Hadramis, especially the al-kadris and rulers of Pontianak.[2] In the early 19th century he was at a time in Besuki, East Java. His cousin Shaykh Abdurrahman, was the maternal grandfather of Usman bin Yahya, an important Islamic scholar of Indonesia.[1]

Writings

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His writings closely quotes the Quran. One of his works writes about the issues of social hierarchy of his day,[2] he was critical of the social hierarchy where people of wealthy and powerful lineage put themselves ahead of others.[1] His writings mock the excessive pride of family lineage of Arabs in the Malay world and expanded on inequality on the lives of the Arabs in the archipelago.[2]

One of his famous writings were the Hikayat Mareskalek (The Story of Mareskalek), where he criticized the aggressive rule of Herman Willem Daendels (1808–1811).[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Mandal, Sumit K. (2017). Becoming Arab: Creole Histories and Modern Identity in the Malay World. Cambridge University Press. pp. 23–42.
  2. ^ a b c Tagliacozzo, Eric (2009). Southeast Asia and the Middle East: Islam, Movement, and the Longue Durée. NUS Press. ISBN 978-9971-69-424-1.

Sources

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  • Mandal, Sumit. 2017. Becoming Arab: Creole Histories and Modern Identity in the Malay World. Cambridge University Press. pp. 23–42
  • Tagliacozzo, Eric. 2009. Southeast Asia and the Middle East: Islam, Movement, and the Longue Durée. Stanford University Press.